Historic National Road - Maryland
Cumberland, MD

History in Cumberland

Cumberland lies in a valley at the junction of Wills Creek and the North Fork of the Potomac River. Mountains tower more than 1,000 feet around the city. On a hill just west of the point where Wills Creek flows into the Potomac, the Gothic spire of Emmanuel Episcopal Church now marks the site of Fort Cumberland, an 18th-century outpost around which the city developed. Trenches underneath the church date back to the mid-1750s and the French and Indian War. As wagon roads improved, Cumberland became a gateway to the Ohio River Valley, and in 1811 work began on the Historic National Road from Cumberland west. The road had reached Wheeling, West Virginia, by 1818 and Vandalia, Illinois, by 1837.

Cumberland was chosen by Congress in 1806 as a natural starting point for the National Road for several reasons, including proximity to Washington, D.C., and a pass through the Allegheny Mountains known as "The Narrows." Other points of interest in Cumberland include Canal Place and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Cumberland contains several National Register Historic Districts.

A Walking Tour

For a walking tour of the city, stroll north on Canal Street to Baltimore Street, then turn left to cross Wills Creek. Bear left to Riverside Park on the creek's west bank where you can visit George Washington's Headquarters, the sole remaining structure from Fort Cumberland. Relocated to this spot, the log building was built in 1755 and served as Washington's headquarters during the French and Indian War. Nearby, a historic marker on a grassy strip marks ground zero of the federally-funded National Road.

Head up the hill along Washington Street to the Washington Historic District, a neighborhood of fine homes that developed during Cumberland's "golden age" of post-Civil War prosperity. Be sure to visit Gordon-Roberts House, a lovely 18-room Victorian home that is now a museum recreating life in the late 1800s. Backtrack across Wills Creek to Cumberland's historic commercial district where late 19th- and early 20th-century commercial buildings speak of the city's past economic importance. The district includes churches, theaters, large department stores, small specialty shops, and hotels.